Shizuoka Prefectural Government has announced by October 11 that one of its research institutes made a world-first discovery of a sterilizing action of “theaflavins” against norovirus. The theaflavin is a kind of polyphenols that black tea contains. Existing norovirus disinfectants are harmful to hands and other parts of a human body. The Shizuoka Government plans to develop a new disinfectant, friendly with the human-body, made from plants in collaboration with a private corporation concerned. The theaflavin is pigment, a cause of red color of the black tea. Shizuoka Institute of Environment and Hygiene operated by the Prefectural Government at Shizuoka city found that theaflavins act to prevent virus from invading … Continue reading →

Two advisory committees for Shinzo Abe’s Administration, the Council for Regulatory Reform and the Council on Investment for the Future, held a joint meeting on October 6 to make recommendations on structural reforms in such fields as price cuts of farm inputs as well as distribution and processing channels of agricultural products. The two Councils proposed Abe’s Administration should introduce a bill to persuade related industries, including those of farm-input manufacturers and rice wholesalers, to respectively reorganize themselves. The Administration was also advised to review existing regulatory systems by abolishing regulations based on legislation governing developments of seeds and farm machinery as well as the Wholesale Markets Act. In the … Continue reading →

The Japanese Government held a meeting of an advisory council on national strategic special zones to begin considering a new regulation for allowing overseas skilled workers to work in an agricultural sector in special economic zones of the country. Under an existing system, technical intern trainees from developing countries are only allowed to work in the Japanese agricultural sector. The Government now decided to consider inviting foreign workers skilled to a certain extent so as to ease the shortage of workforces in local farming communities. At the advisory council, a representative of Ogata-Mura village, Akita prefecture, a newly developed area by a governmental land reclamation project in 1950s-60s, made a … Continue reading →